Lafferty Wins Sawmill National Enduro

By Mark Kariya | 5/14/2007 12:00 AM

Red Bull KTM teammates Mike Lafferty (pictured) and Russell Bobbitt went 1-2 at the Sawmill National Enduro near Lakeport, California, May 13. By winning, seven-time champ Lafferty added five points to his series lead over Bobbitt, the defending champion, who finished second for the fourth consecutive National. Lafferty now has 136 points to Bobbitt’s 130. Lafferty turned in a scorecard with 22.0851 points after six test sections spread out over the 79.9 miles on his KTM 450 XC-W, while Bobbitt accumulated 25.1076 points on his KTM 250 XC.

AMA District 36 cross-country ace Jordan Brandt finished third on his AmericanBeta.com/Dicks Racing Beta 525 RR with a 27.1127 score.

Lafferty and Bobbitt started by both scoring a six in the first section, but after that, Lafferty showed superior speed, beating Bobbitt by a minute in the next three tie-breaker sections and edged him in the fourth by a fraction. Both dropped just a minute in the final section.

"Everything seemed like it worked out really well,” Lafferty said. “I didn't have any big get-offs or anything. I started off pretty strong with the first section; I just had to get used to this [western] stuff, riding in the little more wide-open terrain. They had a little bit of tight stuff at the end that was pretty gnarly, but I just kept it together."

Bobbitt said, "I felt really good in the morning; I thought I was riding at the top of my game and everything. The biggest trouble I had was dust and other riders; that was the biggest holdup for me. I didn't crash one time all day."

Brandt edged fellow D-36 standout Brian Butler for the final podium spot, with Butler losing out on tie-breaker points with a 27.1131 on his new High Gear Motorsports/Motion Pro RM-Z450. Team Green WORCS specialist Nathan Woods rounded out the top five with a 28.113 on his new Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Moose KLX450R.